Beartrack Lakes and Roosevelt Lakes

Summit County - Eagle County - Clear Creek County

Beartrack Lake is located 5.4 miles from Camp Rock Trailhead in the Mt Evans Wilderness. The Beartrack Lakes Trail passes through the Beartracks burn, contrastingly intact forests and across a blowdown area to the main lake. The Roosevelt LakesTrail splits south and climbs steeply through treeline to a group of tarns set among high alpine meadows at the head of Truesdell Creek.

Since 1976 the Mt Evans State Wildlife Area has been closed Jan 1 - June 14 to avoid disturbing wintering and calving elk

The 1998 Beartrack Fire burned 485 acres, portions of which had already experienced severe infestations from budworm and bark beetle

The Roosevelt Lakes Trail continues above the tarns to a saddle between Rosalie Peak and the Pegmatite Points, where it continues south as the Tanglewood Trail and drops to meet the Rosalie Trail

The Roosevelt Lakes Trail moderates across treeline but loses clarity between cairns in a big alpine landscape

Beartrack Lake is framed by a 13,500'+ ridge between Epaulet Mountain (13,523') and Rosalie Peak (13,575')

Beartrack Lake's outlet braids through a marshy mix of grass, willow and ponds which make exploration a soggy affair

Travel moderates from 2.0 - 3.95 miles through conifer stands on a ridge between Bear Creek (north) and Truesdell Creek (south)

The north shore of Beartrack Lake is long with plenty of space for anglers, and a number of established campsites spread across intact forest

The Mt Evans Wilderness was designated in 1980 and covers over 74,000 acres, the approximate size of the Indian Peaks Wilderness (~76,000 acres)

Fire regimes are influenced greatly by climate, vegetation types and by topographic and geologic features that either facilitate or restrict fire spread (Agee 1993, Camp and others 1997, Taylor and Skinner 1998)

The largest Roosevelt Lake is still quite small, but set among high alpine meadows that give it a particularly spacious feel

The 2011-2012 blowdown significantly limited access to the Beartracks and Roosevelt Lakes before being cleared by 2015; most of this work was done by manual saw

The Roosevelt Lakes Trail crosses open alpine terrain where cairns blend in with the landscape and can be difficult to distinguish, particularly on the way back down when navigation must be more precise

The uppermost Beartrack Lake is located approximately 800' up and 1.05 miles as the crow flies from the lower lake outlet, a challenging cross-country hike that requires good navigation skills

The Mount Evans SWA covers approximately 4000 acres of montane woodlands and canyon bottom habitats on the eastern flank of Mount Evans